Review · 10 min read
AI Secrets Challenge Review: We Attended All 5 Days
We independently attended the April 27 to May 1, 2026 cohort. This page contains affiliate links and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
AI Secrets Challenge review: our verdict
The AI Secrets Challenge was a free, live, 5-day online workshop from Russell Brunson and Todd Dickerson. We registered without paying, attended every session of the April 27 to May 1, 2026 cohort, and rate it 4.6/5. The free training was worth the week. Around it sat an upsell funnel: the VIP option activated a 14-day MarketingSecrets.AI trial that renews at $97 a month, and a $2,997 Platinum upgrade was pitched from Day 2 in our cohort. Our estimate is roughly 80 percent teaching to 20 percent selling. The last cohort ran August 10 to 14, 2026, and no new dates are announced. The software it ran on is still open: MarketingSecrets.AI has a 14-day free trial.
No cohort is open. This button starts the 14-day MarketingSecrets.AI trial, the software the challenge ran on, through our affiliate link. $0 today, then $97 a month.
Is the AI Secrets Challenge worth it and is it legit?
Is the AI Secrets Challenge worth it?
Yes, the free AI Secrets Challenge is worth attending if you run an online business and have not yet put AI into your daily operations. The five sessions taught a complete system: a swipe-file content method, email frameworks, a live no-code software build and five ways to sell AI services. The cost is time, about 90 minutes a day, and exposure to a sales ladder. If you already run AI agents in production, the early days will feel familiar.
Is the AI Secrets Challenge legitimate?
Yes. The AI Secrets Challenge is a real five-day training event run by ClickFunnels co-founders Russell Brunson and Todd Dickerson, and we attended all five days of the April 27 to May 1, 2026 cohort. The base event was free during our cohort and did not require a card. The caveat is commercial: VIP activated a 14-day MarketingSecrets.AI trial that could renew at $97 a month, and Platinum was pitched at $2,997 during the week.
What's the catch?
The catch is not the free seat. The commercial funnel starts around it: VIP activates the MarketingSecrets.AI trial, Platinum was pitched on Day 2 and re-offered through Day 5, and the ladder we saw pitched across the week ran from $97 a month up to a $50,000 mastermind. Knowing the ladder exists is the best defence against buying a rung you do not need.
AI Secrets Challenge at a glance
| Legit? | Yes. We attended all five days of the April 2026 cohort |
| Free? | Yes. Base registration required no card in our cohort |
| Time required | About 90 minutes a day for five days |
| Best for | Operators who have not yet built AI into daily workflows |
| Poor fit for | AI-native teams and passive-income seekers |
| Main catch | VIP trial renews at $97 a month unless cancelled |
| Major upsell | $2,997 Platinum during our cohort |
| Teaching vs pitch | Our estimate: roughly 80/20 |
| Biggest strength | Live demonstrations, including a working micro-app built on stage |
| Biggest weakness | Heavy selling and fast-changing software |
| Our score | 4.6/5 |
What we actually attended and tested
| What we verified | Our evidence |
|---|---|
| Attendance | April 27 to May 1, 2026, all five live sessions |
| Free tier | Registered without payment or card |
| Replay behaviour | Free replay links expired the Monday after the challenge in our cohort |
| VIP | Saw the registration flow and the 14-day trial terms |
| Platinum | Watched the Day 2 pitch and the Day 5 closing presentation |
| Software demos | Watched the MarketingSecrets.AI and Overskill demonstrations live |
| Build-along | Built a micro-app alongside Day 4 in about fifteen minutes |
| Current status | Re-checked October 18, 2026: no new cohort. The software has a 14-day free trial |
What the AI Secrets Challenge actually is
The AI Secrets Challenge is a free, 5-day live online workshop hosted by ClickFunnels co-founders Russell Brunson and Todd Dickerson. Each day runs about 90 minutes on Zoom. Across five sessions they teach how to build AI-assisted marketing and business systems: copy, email, software and automation workflows. The challenge is also used to demonstrate MarketingSecrets.AI, with optional trial-based and paid upgrades offered during the event. According to an affiliate-team email we received after the April cohort, approximately 23,000 people participated in that run. The organisers subsequently ran a second cohort in August.
Russell runs the framing, the storytelling and the pitch. Todd, the technical co-founder, runs the workflows, the prompts and the agent-stack diagrams. Most "AI for business" trainings we have reviewed lean too hard on one or the other; this one kept both across all five days.
AI Secrets Challenge dates and current status
| Last cohort | August 10 to 14, 2026 |
| Next cohort | Not announced |
| Free registration | Currently closed. The official site still lists the August dates and no new ones |
| VIP | 14-day MarketingSecrets.AI trial; $97 a month after |
| Platinum | $2,997 in the cohort we attended |
| Last checked | October 18, 2026 |
While no cohort is open, you can still use the software the week was built on. MarketingSecrets.AI is free for 14 days, then $97 a month. What the trial includes.
What happens during the five days?
| Day | Topic | What they taught | Our take |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The 7-Figure AI Shortcut | Swipe File, Attractive Character, Creative Director | Good foundational system; strongest for marketers |
| 2 | The Billion Dollar Breakthrough | Software plus frameworks as a recurring model; the Chief of Staff agent idea | Commercially interesting, and where the Platinum selling begins |
| 3 | The One-Person Marketing Machine | Email sequences, VSLs, landing pages from your swipe file | The most immediately useful day for us |
| 4 | Building Software With AI | Lovable, Claude Code and Overskill, demonstrated by Todd | Best live demonstration; software availability caveat |
| 5 | AI Side Hustles | Custom apps, AI audits, lead tools, agents, done-for-you assets | Useful commercialisation ideas, heavier opportunity framing |
Our biggest takeaway from each day
Day 1. Feed the model proven, high-converting examples before you prompt it. Russell's line for bad inputs was "poop brownies". Most people skip the swipe file and the voice underneath it, and that is why their AI content falls flat. Day 1 recap.
Day 2. Russell's argument that information alone is a commodity and software that implements a framework is what people keep paying for. The Josh Latimer case study, $5M in 18 months, was presented by Russell and is his figure, not one we verified. Day 2 recap.
Day 3. The Soap Opera Sequence and the Daily Seinfeld broadcast alone earned the day. The email demo also crashed twice on camera, detail below. Day 3 recap.
Day 4. Todd built working software live in plain English. We followed along and had a working micro-app in about fifteen minutes. Todd demonstrated Lovable for simple builds, Claude Code for complex ones, and his own Overskill. Day 4 recap.
Day 5. Five paths to sell what you learned, most pitched at $3K and up per project. Guest Chris Thomas's agency and healthcare-software figures were his own presentation claims. The identity shift, from "learning AI" to "building with AI", was the real product of the day. Day 5 recap.
What the sales page doesn't tell you: 5 things we learned by attending
Every other review of this challenge describes the sales page. These five details come from our seat in the April 27 to May 1 cohort, with the chat window open.
Free replays expired during our cohort
Each day's replay died at midnight unless you took the VIP upgrade, and VIP is what activates the 14-day MarketingSecrets.AI trial. The "free replay" is the trial funnel. Set a cancellation reminder for day 12 and it costs you nothing.
The MarketingSecrets.AI demo broke live
On Day 3, the email demo crashed twice on camera and the team hot-fixed it during the break. Honest, yes. Polished, no. It told us the software was newer than the pitch implied.
Overskill wasn't available to attendees
Todd's app builder was pitched all five days, but he said live that he "literally couldn't give you guys access right now… you would probably crash it." The Day 4 homework was assigned on Lovable, a competitor's tool, at your own cost.
Some of the scarcity changed during the pitch
The Day 2 "buy during the 10-minute break or lose the 2CCX Shadow Seat" bonus was walked back minutes later in Q&A, with Russell adding a waiting list on the spot ("I just made that up on top of my head", his words). Treat the countdown theatre accordingly.
Platinum was not the top of the offer ladder
During our April cohort we recorded the following ladder pitched across the week: $97 a month, $297 a month, $2,997 Platinum, a $12,000 to $15,000 Boise workshop, a $25,000 2CCX seat, and a $50,000 Inner Circle. Knowing the ladder exists is the best defence against buying a rung you do not need.
None of this makes the training bad. It means you should walk in with the map we did not have.
How much does the AI Secrets Challenge cost?
| Tier | Cost during our cohort | What you are committing to |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Five live training days plus the closing 30/60/90 plan |
| VIP | $0 upfront | Encore replays, VIP pre-sessions, training vault, and a 14-day MarketingSecrets.AI trial that renews at $97 a month unless cancelled |
| Platinum | $2,997 one payment | Coaching, Overskill, the Lost Secrets books and six months of Platinum, stacked to a stated $42,479, pitched Day 2 and re-offered through Day 5 |
Pricing as observed in the April 27 to May 1, 2026 cohort. Today only the 14-day trial is open: $0, then $97 a month. Cancel in the Billing tab before day 15 and nothing bills. Full detail: VIP review, Platinum review, complete pricing, bonuses graded.
Who is the AI Secrets Challenge worth it for?
Attend if
- You are a solo operator, freelancer, or consultant tired of bottlenecks
- You run a small business and suspect the team is overbuilt
- You run paid traffic and need to compress production cycles
- You can commit 90 minutes a day for five days
Skip it if
- You want a passive-income hack; this is not that angle
- You already run an AI-native operation with custom agents in production
- You prefer to read at your own pace and will not attend live
Pros and cons after attending all five days
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Base event was free in our cohort, no card | $2,997 pitch begins on Day 2 |
| Working software built live, not slideware | Pace is fast; note-taking is on you |
| Frameworks transfer beyond ClickFunnels | ClickFunnels-heavy sales framing |
| Real software demos | Some software was immature or unavailable to attendees |
| Day 5 turns the week into billable offers | VIP trial needs cancelling if unwanted |
What you can still get: the 14-day MarketingSecrets.AI trial
Every session ran inside one piece of software, MarketingSecrets.AI. The challenge is closed, but the software is open, and it now has a 14-day free trial with its own checkout. You pay $0 today, then $97 a month from day 15 unless you cancel in the Billing tab.
The trial holds the builds from the week: the Chief of Staff agent from Day 1, the four marketing agents from Day 2 and the email frameworks from Day 3. It also includes Funnel Oracle, 1,800+ trainings and the Backstage Pass community. We ran the trial after our cohort and kept the subscription. Our 14-day trial review has the scores.
Our final verdict
We have sat through a lot of free challenges from internet marketers. Most are 90 percent pitch. In our notes the AI Secrets Challenge ran the other way, and the training was dense enough that we recommended it to anyone running a business under $5M who had not yet put AI into their daily workflows. The Platinum offer was a real product; read our Platinum review on its merits. VIP was the easier yes because it cost $0 upfront, as long as you calendared the trial.
Bottom line: the challenge is closed and no new dates are announced. The software it taught is open. Start the 14-day MarketingSecrets.AI trial, rebuild the Day 1 Chief of Staff agent, and decide on day 12.
Start the software the challenge ran on
MarketingSecrets.AI Core, free for 14 days. $0 today, then $97 a month. Cancel in the Billing tab.
Start My Free 14-Day Trial → Independent affiliate page. This link starts the MarketingSecrets.AI trial through our affiliate link, and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.AI Secrets Challenge FAQ
Is the AI Secrets Challenge actually free?
Yes. The 5-day base challenge was free in our cohort and did not require a credit card. No new cohort is announced. The software it ran on, MarketingSecrets.AI, has a 14-day free trial: $0 today, then $97 a month.
When is the next cohort?
Not announced as of October 18, 2026. The last cohort ran August 10 to 14, 2026. You can use the software without a cohort through the 14-day MarketingSecrets.AI trial.
Will the recordings be available?
In the cohort we attended, free replays expired nightly and Encore replays came with the VIP tier. Replay access has varied by cohort, so check the terms on the page you register from.
Do I need any tools or accounts to attend?
No paid tools are required. To build along, an account with at least one AI tool such as ChatGPT or Claude helps, and Day 4 used no-code builders such as Lovable.
What changed since we attended
- August 10 to 14, 2026: a second cohort ran with the same five-day structure. The official site still lists those dates and no new ones.
- Platinum order page: the $2,997 checkout stayed live after the August cohort ended. The countdown on it resets, so treat the timer as theatre.
- MarketingSecrets.AI trial: since October 2026 the 14-day trial has its own checkout, so you no longer need the challenge to get it. It bills $97 a month from day 15. Founder entry is $1,997 lifetime plus $97 a month per seat. Details on our MarketingSecrets.AI in the challenge page.
Rating unchanged at 4.6/5. Last re-checked October 18, 2026.